County Ponders How to Increase Minority Participation on Juries

Milwaukee courts can’t target specific neighborhoods

State Attorney General J.B. Van
Hollen put the kibosh on a plan to ask more minority residents of
Milwaukee County to serve on juries. The Milwaukee County Circuit Court
has been trying to find ways to increase minority participation on
juries so that juries are truly “of one’s peers.”

Court
records show that white Milwaukee County residents are
disproportionately more likely to serve on juries than the county’s
racial and ethnic minority residents. One potential way to boost
minority participation would be to send more jury summonses to areas of
the county that have more ethnic or racial minority residents.

But
in an opinion released last week, Van Hollen wrote that jury summonses
must be sent randomly. “While increasing the proportional
representation of minority groups on juries might be a desirable goal,
it cannot be accomplished by means that conflict with the statutes
which are designed to guarantee equality of individual, not group,
participation on juries,” Van Hollen wrote.

Clerk of Circuit
Court John Barrett said the opinion would not change how his office
sends out jury summonses, which it currently does randomly. But he said
that the court could use other means to increase minority participation
on juries. A petition filed before the state Supreme Court would allow
the court to use more up-to-date and robust data than what is used to
locate jurors now. Currently, the court uses a state Department of
Transportation list of those who have driver’s licenses. But that list,
according to an audit of the system conducted last year, underreports
minority residents “at approximately twice the rate of whites.”

Barrett
said the petition in front of the Supreme Court would allow his office
to use other data, such as lists of people who have voted, filed income
tax returns, paid or received child support, or are receiving
unemployment compensation.

Barrett said that these lists are
more upto-date and would increase the court’s chances of finding
potential jurors at their current residences. “It would improve our
ability to use current addresses and keep the master list fresh,”
Barrett said.

Barrett said the court has been using other methods to try to increase minority involvement
on juries. He said his office has had success with sending follow-up
letters to residents who have not responded to a jury summons, since it
was found that minority residents are less likely to respond to a
summons than white residents.

Barrett said more people are
responding to the letters, partly because they clearly explain the
consequences of not responding to the summons. There’s a $500 penalty
for not returning the summons, and a $40 penalty for not showing up for
jury duty. Barrett said the petition in front of the Supreme Court
would raise the penalty for not showing up to $500.

“But we
prefer to use the carrot approach,” Barrett said, instead of levying
the penalties on non-responders. Barrett encouraged potential jurors to
participate when summoned for duty. “It’s a chance to participate in
government other than by voting,” Barrett said.